iOS or Android

[dden4012]

Re: POLL iOS or Android

Hey Jerry, what's your prediction? :thinking:

@dden, I'm with you on the battery issue, but I've been lucky so far and haven't had any battery issues with my last couple of phones with non removable batteries.

planned obsolescence. Most consumers will just do an upgrade rather than have their sealed phone cracked open to replace a battery. The market environment has been pre groomed to accept this with water resistance feature. But also take note of the rounded edges of the glass screen on most new phones. I see an intention that isn't what they are marketing with. Newer devices and OS's are getting more locked down and locking out the root user. I remember reading about jailbreaking and rooting phones https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wired.com/2010/07/feds-ok-iphone-jailbreaking/amp
https://www.quora.com/Is-it-illegal-to-root-my-Android-phone
Appalling. Many bones to pick.

 

[Benm]

I'm not that sure that planned failure is that big a thing in phones.

Surely the battery is problematc as it can do only so many cycles, but that's not too hard to have replaced. Motorola (now a lenovo brand) has gone as far as making the batteries user-replaceable again.

I guess the apps and features drive you to replace your phone every 2 years or so as they are getting bigger and exhaust storage space before the hardware fails.

 

[diachi]

Android all the way! Haven't enjoyed using any iPhone since I switched to Android.

Credit where it's due, iPhones take some really nice pictures in my experience. Although, I haven't used one in a couple of years, that may have changed.

 

[Benm]

They do, but so do some android phones, which is why it is very hard to compare between both systems.

An iphone is a fairly exactly defined device - there are only a few models and the exact components in every single one are known.

Android supports so many different devices, some really crappy ones and some really good ones, as wel as a decent collection of midrange devices.

This goes for all the components including the camera's. The ones on the iphone are fully known, and only a couple are available depending on generation and model.

In android phones you can get the most crappy 1 megapixel camera or the very best big sensor 20 megapixel marvel. There will be a huge price gap between the devices, but that is sort of the point of android: it works on lots of platforms.

This creates problems obviously, and there seems to be the idea to split android into two versions, the normal one and 'android go' for very low end devices. These will probably come out in 2018.

One thing to note is that android is hugely popular in developing countries like india, with a big market for $100-ish handsets. Apple products are simply not affordable to the vast majority of the population, but the desire to have a smartphone is very real. You see a lot of moto-e devices and similar entry models there, besides the not-really-branded smartphones that also often run android.

 

[lasersbee]

Actually the device (hardware) is designed to use a
specific Operating System (firmware) not the other
way around.... it is the Hardware that supports the
Firmware...:beer:

I do agree that the iPhones bought outright are way
overpriced and an Android device can be had for a
fraction of the cost.

BTW... I hate the constant software upgrades and
fixes for the iPhone... a real PITA.

Jerry

 

[Accutronitis]

When iPhone's first came out i use to make fun of my sister saying "when are you going to get a real phone" But she gave me one of her iPhone's when she upgraded and I've been using an iPhone ever since ! Couldn't imagine being without it...... lol

Heck i use an frequency analyzer app to set the tuning fork frequency on the Accutron 214 tuning fork watch movements i work on !

As far as the software upgrades and fixes for the iPhone go, I don't mind them because they are easy enough to do and require only one touch of the screen and one more touch of the screen to say yes to preform.....

 

[RB astro]

Actually the device (hardware) is designed to use a
specific Operating System (firmware) not the other
way around.... it is the Hardware that supports the
Firmware...:beer:

I do agree that the iPhones bought outright are way
overpriced and an Android device can be had for a
fraction of the cost.

BTW... I hate the constant software upgrades and
fixes for the iPhone... a real PITA.

Jerry

Agreed Jerry.

 

[Benm]

Actually the device (hardware) is designed to use a
specific Operating System (firmware) not the other
way around.... it is the Hardware that supports the
Firmware...:beer:

I do agree that the iPhones bought outright are way
overpriced and an Android device can be had for a
fraction of the cost.

BTW... I hate the constant software upgrades and
fixes for the iPhone... a real PITA.

Jerry

Well, i partially agree on this. The problem is that iOS is apple proprietary software, and even if you could build hardware to support it on another brand smartphone you would probably not get a license to do so.

On laptop and desktop platforms this can be done to some degree, probably violating licences, but still be able to buld a hackingtosh (i.e. non-apple hardware device that runs an apple os).

Interestingly the other way around is perfectly possible: you can run android on an iphone. This is not illlegal afaik, but it will probably void the guarantee on the iphone. If you really like the iphone form factor and willing to pay top dollar for the hardware, you can have it running android, though i'm not sure how buggy this will be.

 

[Rivem]

Well, i partially agree on this. The problem is that iOS is apple proprietary software, and even if you could build hardware to support it on another brand smartphone you would probably not get a license to do so.

On laptop and desktop platforms this can be done to some degree, probably violating licences, but still be able to buld a hackingtosh (i.e. non-apple hardware device that runs an apple os).

Interestingly the other way around is perfectly possible: you can run android on an iphone. This is not illlegal afaik, but it will probably void the guarantee on the iphone. If you really like the iphone form factor and willing to pay top dollar for the hardware, you can have it running android, though i'm not sure how buggy this will be.

The one thing that really makes iOS perform well is its great optimization to a narrow set of hardware, but iPhones otherwise usually have inferior hardware to Android flagships. Android usually lacks a lot of good optimization, so it runs a lot better with beefy hardware. iPhones otherwise do use slightly older revisions of the same ARM architecture processors in Android.

I've only messed with an Android iPhone once, and the performance was definitely poor for the price you'd pay for the optimization. You'd have to really love the iPhone's design and hate its OS to make that choice for a new phone IMO.


You'll really notice a difference in Android phones that have good optimization though. The difference between US (Qualcomm) and International (Samsung Exynos) Galaxy devices is amazing. Exynos versions run way cooler and have much better battery life. The only benefits are that the Qualcomm chips support CDMA networks in the US and have had better graphics capabilities for a while.

 

[Benm]

I guess CDMA compatibility will always be an issue for the american market. Some US providers (like t mobile) use GSM and could away with gsm only handsets that are also used in the rest of the world, though they would not support domestic roaming or even emernency calls when in reach of another domestic provider.

This issue plagues both ios and android phones though. One key difference is that apple's target market is the US, while many android brands are aimed more globally and could be sold without cdma support in the vast majority of the world. Apple wants to support the entire world so has to support both gsm and cmda, while an entry level smartphone intended for the asian or eruopean market can get away without supporting cdma at all.

 

[lasersbee]

This poll will end in 2 days... but I can already see
the ratio I was looking for.
Thanks to everyone that contributed to the Poll
so far.... :beer:

Jerry

 

[BowtieGuy]

It looks like we're going to end up at about a 50/50 split this time around. That's just what you predicted!

 

[Rivem]

Seems about right. I think the general trend will go towards Android over time, but it seems about 50/50 irl.

Side note, iPhone 8 looks like it'll be pretty cool, but that $1k price tag seems a bit much if true, unless there are more new features. I'd much rather go with Note 8 around that price, but the Galaxy 8 series fingerprint sensor is a dealbreaker for me right now. I'm sticking with my S7 for a while anyway.

 

[lasersbee]

It looks like we're going to end up at about a 50/50 split this time around. That's just what you predicted!

I've also noted in Past Polls on LPF
the Poll has to run a fair length of
time to get some semblance of an
average result over the population
voting.

Jerry

 

[Benm]

I don't know, but i suggest you visit a phone store where you can actually see and handle these phones.

If you are using a 5C at the moment you'll probably notice how large they are. There is nothing wrong with a big screen smartphone per se, but it could be difficult to pocket and such, something to consider.

 

[lasersbee]

I don't know, but i suggest you visit a phone store where you can actually see and handle these phones.

If you are using a 5C at the moment you'll probably notice how large they are. There is nothing wrong with a big screen smartphone per se, but it could be difficult to pocket and such, something to consider.

There is something about holding a large 19" computer
monitor to my ear just to speak to someone. That
seems odd to me...
I use my Cell phone to speak to someone at the other
end and Emergencies. For me the smaller the better.
I use my Computer for all the other stuff..
But that's just me...

Jerry